Her My friend is 72 years old, lives on Social Security and income from a part-time job, and is desperately trying to save the home her father left to her. Her father died on March 17, 2017, after spending 13 of his last 14 weeks in the hospital. During the one week he was home, he wrote a new will. That will left his homestead residence and stock to my friend, his only child. It also named his live-in caregiver as the person in charge of settling the estate. That caregiver had been hired through Craigslist about two years earlier and was living in the home. My friend moved from Texas to the North Fort Myers residence the second week of January 2017. The caregiver remained in the home and my friend was unaware of the new will. The will stated that the caregiver would get a duplex, two vehicles, and a utility trailer. My friend was to have the homestead residence and her father’s stock. The stock had to be sold to pay for her father’s burial expenses and bring the mortgages current on both the homestead and the duplex. After that, the caregiver continued living in the homestead, collected rent from the duplex tenants, and did not pay the duplex mortgage. On October 31, 2017, the caregiver was arrested and charged with two felonies after drug paraphernalia containing heroin residue was found in the car she was driving and in her wallet. The car was impounded, and she moved out of the homestead in November 2017. My friend hired a probate attorney. The plan was to sell the duplex to pay legal fees and repair the roof on the homestead, which had been damaged after Hurricane Irma. But the caregiver moved into the duplex, and the property was eventually lost to foreclosure. Once that happened, the probate attorney stopped working on the case because there were no longer estate funds available to pay legal fees. The law firm then placed a lien on the homestead for $12,463. For three years, my friend climbed onto the roof herself and put up tarps to protect the roof. At age 67, she could no longer do it safely. A roofing company she found through church kindly helped by installing a blue tarp, and later replacing it with the white tarp shown in the photo, all at no charge. Over the years, she has received roofing quotes from reliable companies. The cost was about $17,000 in 2018. The current quote is now approximately $28,000. She cannot get financing because the house is still not titled in her name due to the unresolved probate issue. If the roof can be paid for in cash, the work can be done. After Hurricane Ian, my friend received insurance checks totaling $13,576.94, but she has not been able to use them because the checks were made payable to the estate, and she does not have the legal authority to cash them. The mortgage company has also sent checks for escrow overages, but those checks were also made payable to the estate and remain inaccessible for the same reason. Although funds have technically been issued, she cannot access them without resolving the probate issue. Now the situation has become urgent. Lee County Code Enforcement has cited the home and ordered that the roof be replaced. At the Code Enforcement hearing, the officer recommended a fine of $500 per day. My friend explained the probate problem and that she does not have the money to hire another attorney. The Examiner granted a continuance until June 15, 2026. Code Enforcement then instructed her to apply for a roofing permit, which has been completed and paid for. She also applied for legal assistance but was told she did not qualify. She has contacted multiple probate attorneys. Some will not take the case because it involves a change of counsel. One reviewed the case and declined it. Another attorney offered only 15 minutes free before billing at $575 per hour. Why funds are needed Funds are urgently needed to help my friend: 1. Replace the roof before Lee County begins imposing fines of $500 per day. 2. Hire a probate attorney to move the estate case forward and help resolve title to the home. 3. Protect the homestead her father intended her to have. 4. Prevent a 72-year-old woman on a fixed income from losing the only home she has. She has done everything she can on her own. She has fought for years, protected the home as best she could, applied for help, paid for the permit, and tried repeatedly to find legal representation. But she cannot do this alone. Any donation, no matter the size, will help her show Code Enforcement that real progress is being made and give her a chance to finally secure the home her father left to her. Thank you for helping her through this urgent and heartbreaking situation.